Introduction Story

THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION! This story is incomplete and is more of a rough outline, a terribly written jumble of thoughts. Please avoid until this warning changes.

The following is the story of adventures in The Great Ring Galaxy. The story can show any new adventurer what to expect while roaming the vast expanse of space.

A Fateful Landing

Chapter One

Sarah strained to look at her reflection in the cracked mirror. She was hoping to see someone else. But, instead, she just saw the same dirty hair, brown eyes, chapped lips, and grungy clothing. Humans that left their home planet seemed to suffer this fate. A place she never saw, as she was born far away- not even planetside. Her parents left Earth a while back. "It wasn't safe."

When Sarah was seven, her parents got caught up in a labor camp as they struggled to survive. For the last ten years, most of her life, she's worked tirelessly for the profit of some alien who cared little for others and even less for humans. However, that was then, and this is now. Now she looked in the mirror as she flew across the stars, freed by a human man named Bosch. Her parents were happy to see her escape. The ship bumped a little bit and shook Sarah from her gaze. She turned around and left her tiny quarters to join the rest of the crew on the flight deck.

The flight deck felt massive, with its wide view screen wrapping around the room, giving way to the deep blackness of space. In truth, it was cramped for a Large Civilian ship. But Sarah loved it the most. It was where she practiced flying and learned a lot about spaceships. Most of the crew had been happy to teach, and she wanted to be as helpful and as useful as possible as quickly as possible. A thought flashed through her mind: a fear of being abandoned, of a disappointing human who failed to contribute. She buried that thought quickly. At the moment, she wished she knew more about Spaceship Operations, but didn't want those thoughts to ruin a chance to enjoy landing on a new alien planet. She glanced up at Bosch, who had left his captain's chair to stand over the Tamara, the helms officer. He had not noticed her as he focused on what the instruments on the Helms console were saying about the approaching planet.

The communications console lights up. An electronic voice comes through the speaker, informing the ship's crew of the descent path. Sarah looks at her newfound peers. An odd group of desperadoes. Despite being the newest member, she seemed to fit right in poor, desperate, and not a care in the Ring for the law. Here was a crew who knew that credits talked, and those who listened were fat and happy. There were a lot of credits being offered, according to a distress beacon, the ship was heading toward. She knew little else about the crew. She, after all, just joined them a few weeks ago. She and Bosch were the only humans.

Sarahed peeked over Boch's shoulder at the pilot, who was a Volar, a species she had never seen until joining this crew. This alien, and hopefully new friend, had dark green leafy hair and pale green skin, spotted with light and dark shapes. Her name was Tamara. Sarah had quickly realized that Tamara wore as little clothing as hygienically necessary and did not like being touched without permission. A very awkward first meet. But after a while, she was able to break past the differences between their species, and she learned that Tamara could be warm and inviting. Tamara gets the captain's quarters because it's the only one with a window, and they would sit and watch the stars go by to pass the time. Captain Bosch didn't mind the small, cramped quarters. He says it reminds him of his time in the Soviet Navy, whatever that is or was.

A Cryous was curled up on the weapons console, twiddling both sets of thumbs. His name was Leth, or at least that is how Bosch pronounced it. The Cryous had mostly blue scaly skin and the lower body of a snake, and the upper body of a four-armed humanoid. His lower set of arms was weaker and much shorter than the top. Cryous she learned had very different-sized bodies depending on whether they were male or female. Leth was small, only two feet tall when standing, while females were supposedly much larger. Leth seemed to ignore Sarah for the most part. He tried to show her how to shoot a weapon a couple of times, but Sarah figured it was because Bosch told him too. Other than that, nobody else was in the bridge room. "Kid" was in the engine room, of course. He seemed never to leave that place. Bosch called him Kid, although he was a grown man for his species. He was a Murids or "Ratfolk," as humans called him. To Sarah, it seemed more like "Mouse folk." Kid was fun to be around. He talked in squeaks that made her laugh, and he seemed to have much more energy than Tamara. The thought of landing soon made her think of the time she mentioned to Kid about how 'slower' Tamara sometimes appeared, and he explained, "It's because she is a flipping plant! *squeak* Once she... *squeak*... is planetside she will be bouncing around just you wait! *squeak*". Sarah smiled at the thought of being planetside with Tamara jumping around under the sun's rays, positively blooming with energy.

Another crew member bumped into her on the way into the bridge. "Excuse me huuuman you are blocking the entrance!" said the little Grayling. His big dark eyes seemed to look down at her despite being a foot smaller. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean" Sarah started to say but was interrupted again by the alien as he moved past and went for the communications console without saying a word. Emulex was his name, and Bosch's nickname for him was "Pain in my ass." He, too, was a relatively new member of the crew and had signed up temporarily to avoid some apparent legal trouble in another Arm of the galaxy.

The ship bumped again. It jerked the crew around this time, causing Sarah to nearly fall over.

"By the Ring, keep this ship steady!" Spouted Bosch with an angry Russian accent. The Volar seemed to ignore her captain as she concentrated on the many lights flashing red on her console. Tamara reached out and turned up the light of some UV lamp she had previously installed. Sarah and noticed them all over Tarama's quaters when she first been invited in, apparently it helps keeep Tarama focused and awake, so one naturally was installed on the pilot's station. The fact that she was turning it up during this descent made Sarah a tad worried. She was no pilot and, in fact, had spent the better part of the last ten years underground, but still, she noticed that things did not appear to be going as planned. The viewscreen was now hot, and it was impossible to see beyond a big red blur. Finally, Tamara turns to the rest of the crew. "Hold on, this is going only to get worse!".

Just then, as if the universe answered the pilot's remark, the ship bumped so hard that Sarah yelped as she was up and back bumping her head on the ceiling.

Sarah was shaken awake by Leth. "Here quickly, the air herezzz not good for most speciesss!" he hissed as he shoved a mask on Sarah's bloody face. She struggled to stay conscious and held onto a familiar voice. Bosch is yelling somewhere off in the distance. "Of all the damned places! All the places in the Ring, it has to be this planet! This system!" "It's not all bad, sir!" Another far-off voice said. "We got our lives at least, and they know where we landed." Kid replied even further in the distance. "That was an automated *squeak* voice. The people who sent that distress call are likely *squeak* dead or at the very least unable to help. *squeak*" Bosch sounded closer now. Sarah's eyes opened again to see Bosch's bearded face directly in front of hers. He lifted her up after checking her mask. I turned and faced the rest of the crew. "Listen up! They say strange life forms appeared here from time to time, and this place is already known for its hostile environment. We were supposed to land in a safe zone in the middle of the colony. We gotta get there on foot, and we gotta do it quick!" Bosch took a quick survey of everyone as they huddled up around him. "Where dam Emulex!?"

"I haven't seen him at all." Responded Tamara while nodding toward a hole in the wreckage. "He must still be inside the ship". Bosh cursed under his breath. "Well dam that pain in my ass. Kid and I will go in and look for him. You and Leth start looking around the wreckage out here." Everyone except Sarah started moving. She just stood still, trying to recover from what had just happened, but a sudden feeling of needing to do something or the feeling of helplessness was going to creep up. She looked at Bosh. "What can I do?"

There was a short pause as Bosh stopped moving toward the wreckage. "Hrmm... start looking through all this wreckage. A lot of this spilled out from the cargo bay, and there may be some useful survival gear or just food... or anything. Just find anything you think could be useful." And with that, he turned and hastened his pace to catch up with Kid, who was now only visible by the tail sticking out of a hole at the side of the ship.

She pondered her new mission, relieved by the focus it gave her. But what does survival gear even look like? She turned to ask Tamara, but found that she had already disappeared into the dark forest ahead, and presumably so had Leth, as suddenly she realized she was alone. She had rarely been alone when in the labor camp. As a forced laborer, she had no privacy; it was all work, meal, sleep, and repeat. She was shocked when she was given her own private sleeping quarters. A whole world all too herself on a strange ship. That ship now lies heavily damaged and smoking in front of her, with its insides spilled out, and to whose contents she now needed to search. Alone. But she had work to focus on, and if there was one thing Sarah was good at, she thought to herself, "It's focusing on the task at hand". See looked at the wreckage and took stock of its size, and if anything stood out at first glance. She perceived a good starting point, a "plan of attack" as her father would put it. "When the task-master gives you more work than you think you can do, it's good to take a step back and try to break it up into smaller pieces." Her mom would chime in, "And if that doesn't do it, then it's best to just start anywhere, try not to feel overwhelmed". Sarah had no idea what she was looking for, so she figured all she could do was start.

After some time and picking through boxes and containers, she had two piles. One with questionable things that didn't look damaged, and the other pile things she could actually identify, a scanner of some sort, and a med-kit were her two big finds. She felt a little bit of pride, even though she knew it must have been more luck than skill that got her to spot these in the rumble. Just then, a noise came from within the ship, and 2 figures climbed out of the hole. Covered in black grime and coughing Bosh held a seemingly lifeless grayling. Tamara gasps.

"*squeak* No no little human *squeak* he is just unconscious" Huffed Kid.

Bosh laid Emulex down and noticed the two piles. "What do we..." Bosh was interrupted by a scream coming from down the backside of the wreckage. And suddenly, Leth slithered out from the dark forest with a gun in hand.

Chapter Two

Leth looked horrible. Sarah's eyes widened as she saw what looked like giant, puffy red bulbs of pus oozing from all around his face. He tried to see something, but just nervous garbled noises came. Instead, he pointed behind him as a new noise came to everyone's hearing. An ever-increasing buzzing sound. The sound made Sarah's skin crawl; she had never heard such a sound, but her mind seemed to instinctively know death when it heard it.

"Dangit! Were in the Ring, is my gun!" Shouted Bosh. Just then, from the other side of the clearing burst out Tarama. Sarah, in shock, noted Tarama's fast movement. "I never saw her move so fast before!" she thought. Her mind was brought back to the present when her eyes caught the flash of laser fire from Tarama. Sarah spun back to Leth with wonder, for a flash of a thought, Sarah wondered, "Did Tarama just shoot Leth!?". The laser hit its mark, but it wasn't her crewmate, but a massive bug the size of a cat that had come out of the forest. The laser seemed to have an overwhelming effect, causing the giant insectoid to explode. Its guts rained down, and luckily, Leth dodged bits of insect on his way to the rest of his crew.

"*squeak!!!*" Was the only noise from Kid as he raised both hands up well above his head in triumph. "Nice, shoot Tarama." Grunted Bosh as he quickly laid down the still unconscious grayling. He then walked over to Leth, who collapsed and appeared to have difficulty breathing. "We need a Medkit! Now!" Bosh turned to Sarah, who appeared shaken by the encounter.

Sarah's mind whirled with thoughts, driving by feat. She felt stuck in a loop until Bosh's booming voice knocked her out of it. "Huh..." She turned to Bosh, only to see everyone now looking at her. Instead of panic, though, her mind flashed his previous words. "Medkit.. right!" She rushed to where she had placed the medical kit and hurried back to Bosh.

Bosh grabbed it with a grunt and quickly tore it open. With a flash, he had a needle poking into Leth. Leth only groaned at the sudden and not-too-polite stab. Tarama walked back from inspecting what remained of the attacker. "These are Fiber Hornets. They are solitary creatures that burrow into living trees. Leth probably walked too close to its nest. From what I remember, they are especially territorial when eating, or hungry, or just alive." Bosh said nothing in response. Focused on treating Leth's injuries, he had switched from the needle to some weird blue goo that he rubbed on Leth's wounds.

"*squeak* I don't know if that is good or *squeak* bad news." Mubbled Kid. Tarama responded, "Best you go back in there and get everyone a weapon." The little Murid turned to go, but then looked back nervously at Sarah. She puzzled, looked back at him. "Rrrr... *squeak* everyone?" He asked. Sarah suddenly felt a little offended; she didn't want to be, didn't she just prove herself? Before She or Tarama could answer, Bosh replied, "Everyone," and Leth just grunted what Sarah felt was actual approval. She couldn't help but smile back at the Kid as he scurried back into the hull of the ship. "Tarama, go scout around the camp and make sure we don't have any more surprises out there." Bosh ordered.

Bosh turned to Sarah. She could feel his gaze on her as he said, "Better use those eyeballs and help me find some more survival gear." She turned and hurried toward the rest of the damaged cargo bay. In roughly twenty minutes, they came together and found a few more useful things. Including some travel bags, a rope that looked a little singed, an environmental scanner, a few packs of rations, and so on. She saw with some surprise a large mound of guns and ammunition lying on the ground, and a silly sight of Kid clearly straining under the weight of an unusually large case. He nearly fell on his bottom before righting himself and placing the case on the ground next to the other things with a "humphf".

Bosh strode up. "Well done, Kid, and you too, Sarah." Leth sat upright. "Ugh, I am feeling better now. But where is Tarama? She could use that environmental scanner you guys found." Everyone looked around, and Sarah noticed that nobody moved towards the trees. A moment passed, and fear started to grow from all around. Everyone seemed tense, and the noises of the forest became suspect. Sarah has never been to a forest, or any other planet, actually. She suddenly missed the familiar cavernous hallways that echoed all the noises from far down and all around. Nobody could sneak up on one of those mines as long as the equipment was running. Her concentration was broken by a weird and close-by noise. It sounded like heaving breathing. Is something watching us? Sarah felt like it sounded hungry, but she tried to bury the thought. However, it sounded like it was getting closer. She turned and quickly walked up to Bosh and whispered, "Do you hear that breathing that noise? What do you think it is from?" Bosh looked quizzically at her for a second, and then a flash of understanding seemed to come, only to be quickly replaced by something she thought was humorous! Kid chuckled behind her, and Sarah suddenly felt alien and new to this crew, as if it were the first day she joined them. "What? What? I don't get it!" She said, and then quickly clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing she had made too much noise. Bosh pointed to the Grayling lying on the grass. He was still unconscious, but he was snoring even louder than before. And then a hardy laugh from Bosh and a *squeak* from Kid, burst through the tension like a thunderclap, and Sarah couldn't help but laugh along. Leth was using his smaller arms to hold his chest: "Stop it! Stop! Please don't make me laugh now."

All the commotion finally roused the Gralying from his slumber. Emulex blinked and then shot up with surprising speed. "Huh.. what... What happened?" Just as Bosh was about to respond, a sound came from the forest. All the merryment seemed to vanish. The vacuum was quickly replaced by tension. Everyone quickly turned toward the noise. Out of the shadows of the thick forest came Tarama.

Camping can be fun...right?

Outline: Tamara has been severely wounded, and moving through the thick woods is slow. They eventually find a clearing and camp for the night. While Bosch tends to Tamara's wounds, Kid tries to cheer the nervous Sarah up by telling her the story of how he became an engineer.

Dark or Light

Outline: The team attempts to find a better shelter. They come across a cave that Bosch believes will lead them to the other side of the mountains and much closer to the colony. While taking a break in the caves, Tamara explains why she broke away from her species traditions and joined up with Bosch. Later on, however, the cave proves even more dangerous than the forest outside. As they flee, Tamara dies.

Alone

Outline: Once back out in daylight the team gets separated, and Sarah and Leth have to find a way to meet back up with the others. Leth tries to explain to Sarah how to deal with the loose and hopelessness of the situation by sharing his own story. In the end, Leth has to sacrifice himself to allow Sarah to escape and meet back up with the rest of the team.

Safe! Now where is the Danger?

Outline: Once in the colony Sarah follows a single comms set up by Kid to find Bosch. However along the way she finds a new ally a Dimension Knight who informs her that she has the 'gift'. She and the Knight face off against an unknown alien threat that was at least partially responsible for bringing the colony to ruin. And at the same time meet back up with her crewmates. Bosch instantly hates the Dimension Knight.

All for something

Outline: Once together the team realizes that they must find the source of the devastation to rescue themselves from being stuck on this planet. While on the search Bosch explains to Sarah a part of his life story in an attempt to make her side with him and stay with the crew. However, this contradicts the theme that he and the other crew members had been telling her which was to define your own path. However, at the same time, Bosch has proven to be right about every decision he has made. Sarah proves to herself and everyone else that she can handle herself in a fight and that she does indeed have the 'gift' which is what the Dimension Knight was talking about. The Knight wants her to leave with him to train and become a Knight. In the end, she most chooses between staying with Bosch or leaving this new life or a whole new one with the Knight.